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Miami tennis ends five-game losing streak

D9415 Tennis MAC Tourney 2015
D9415 Tennis MAC Tourney 2015

By Scott Sutton, The Miami Student

The Miami University tennis team (6-9) split the weekend with a 4-3 loss to Ball State University (16-2) Friday and a 6-1 win against University of Toledo (7-9) Sunday in Oxford, Ohio. The matches were the first of the season against Mid-American Conference rivals.

Miami started off strong with a doubles victory in the match against Ball State. The sophomore pair of Nelli Ponomareva and Anastassia Vasiukhina beat opponents Toni Ormond and Julia Sbircea by a 6-2 score. Junior Andreea Badilenu and freshman Anzhelika Shapovalova topped their opponents Carmen Blanco and Bethany Moore, 7-5.

The RedHawks didn't continue the momentum in singles, losing four of six matches. Freshman Emily Struble added to her win column, clinching her 21st win in a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Julia Sbircea. Ponomareva defeated Ball State's Audrey Berger 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

Head coach Yana Carollo expressed her concerns after the match.

"We have played ranked opponents and came one point short," Carollo said. "We have figured out our doubles teams for the remaining portion of the season. This loss hurts but we just need to play on every position, one through six, against MAC teams."

Miami bounced back two days later, beating University of Toledo. The Ponomareva-Vasiukhina duo won 7-5, and senior Ana Rajkovic and sophomore Hannah Shteyn won their match, 6-2. Badileanu and Shapovalova's match went unfinished.

The 'Hawks had a nearly flawless singles day, as five of six players - Shapovalova, Shteyn, Ponomareva, Struble and Vasiukhina - picked up victories. The lone loss was sophomore Erin Rodriguez's 7-6, 6-3 loss to Toledo's Claire Aleck.

Despite her result, Rodriguez believes the team is in the process of recovering from recent losses and is optimistic for the future.

"Today was a good win," Rodriguez said. "It definitely gives us confidence going forward, which is something we were lacking coming off of a few-match losing streak. I think the key thing today that kept us going was our energy. Positive energy from one court can carry on to other courts and can sometimes turn around the outcome of matches, and this definitely showed today."

Miami faces University of Buffalo (10-5) at 1 p.m. Friday and University of Akron (13-7) at 10 a.m. Sunday. Both matches are in Oxford.

"Going forward, I think we need to improve the way we close matches," Rodriguez said. "I know a few of us struggle to close out matches when we are up on the scoreboard, but it is something we are working on, and I saw major improvement today. Although we got off to a rocky start, we are excited to continue the MAC season and feel very confident going forward."